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I have driven I-35 many times, once almost all of the way to the Gulf of
Mexico, a dozen or more times to Dallas, and the ONLY place that it goes as
slow as 45 MPH is when it passes through the rich portions of Saint Paul. That
is also the only area where trucks are not allowed on the Interstate road
system that I can think of. And it goes through some rich areas in Kansas City,
Oklahoma City, Dallas and Austin. Des Moines it basically goes around by
merging with I-80 just north of the city and then getting over to its eastern side.
In Wichita it cuts to the east of the city. This has not helped Des Moines
or Wichita grow.
I live in the northeastern portion of Saint Paul and, honestly, I am a
little bothered by the restrictive speed limit. Mostly because it is weird and
because it does not serve the public good. The Interstate highway system was
largely built with federal money and with a federal mandate. It was intended
to connect the cities with a network of good roads so that people and material
s could be moved from place to place quickly and easily. Frankly, I am
astonished that it went through that area at all given the restrictions placed on
it, when it could have been diverted around the city. The probable reason that
it was not was that MN had such powerful political friends at that time that
they were able to finagle a bye for their friends.
Everyone knows that traffic has become a real issue in the Twin Cities
and that many of our highways are struggling to keep up. One way that traffic
could be moved faster would be to widen the existing roadways. Another would
be to allow traffic on 35E to move faster when it could. Moving traffic faster
would help remove the bottleneck that always develops in that area and might
even help enough to prevent the city and state from having to widen the
highway to a six, or better yet, eight lane affair.
Hopefully, when that happens, they will put down a road bed that will
allow semitrailer trucks to use it. That is, after all, the other half of what
the interstate road system was about -- moving materials.
And there are trees all along I-35 in many heavily trafficked urban
areas, some in cities much bigger than Saint Paul (like Dallas, Austin, etc.). The
reason the trees have died is because the carbon monoxide in the artificial
canyon that was built is trapped in it -- so that the rich people who are
served by the folks who drive on 35E don't have to breath it. But then, who cares
about the poor slobs who have to drive on 35E anyway? Obviously no one in the
rich part of town does. As long as their servants can get to their jobs,
they don't care how many of them they poison. They'll just hire some more and
pat themselves on the back about how good a job they did getting the government
to put the artificial canyon walls in place in the first place.
Congratulations Minnesota on your stunning selfishness -- I guess its just another
example
of Minnesota Nice!
By the way, I do observe the traffic laws and have never gotten a ticket
in Minnesota and I rarely ever drive down 35E. I'm just pointing out the
elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.
Brett Sprangel
East Side
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SPPS Budget Reduction Forum - Feb. 23-27
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